She has cracked it! After weeks of practice and a weekend of ALMOST doing it, my daughter can FINALLY crawl. Eleven months and two weeks old and she is on the move. It may only be a few, small tentative shuffles on her knees at the moment but it is a huge and exciting (knee) step forward.
No longer is she simply traversing, mainly backwards, into the furniture. No longer is she simply commanding a small circle in which she collects her toys then sits down, around and around. No longer is she reaching out as far as she can stretch, on the brink of using her knees, only to collapse on her front. No. She has learnt to crawl – using her hands and knees – and it has been fascinating to see her progress, to watch her pass with flying colours all those natural stages in her quest to learn how to crawl.
Of course, now Mrs T is mobile there is the small matter of child proofing. Gone are the days when I can leave her to her own devices for a few moments while I run upstairs or do the washing up or get something from the car. The luxury of being able to pop out of the room knowing she will be in the same place when I get back, is now gone. Although not yet fully exploring (am sure it won’t be long until she is making a bee line for the stairs), she is already finding the radiators and their components fascinating and she is finding great delight in pulling things out from the draw under her cot. This is a game changer and from now on we are going to have to be extra vigilant.
It feels like, in just a few days, she has grown up so much. Not only is she crawling and starting to pull herself up onto objects (like this cardboard box), she also looks bigger, her face has filled out, she feels heavier, she is more communicative. She is on the verge of becoming a toddler. Almost a year on and she is, without doubt, no longer a baby.
